In Which Natsume Made a Mistake
by Vongola Princessa
Summary: Forgetting to buy the right vegetables was one thing, but forgetting his playmate from kindergarten? The end of the world, apparently. And then insulting said forgotten playmate accidentally in her face? Natsume didn't think it was worth saying goodbye to soccer summer camp indefinitely.


**In Which Natsume Made a Mistake**

GAchallenge prompt: 'i rant to the cashier all about this guy my mother wants to set me up with because i knew him in kindergarten and we just moved back here but he sounds like a real nightmare! fast forward a few hours and the kindergarten friend is… the cashier' (with some creative liberty ofc)

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Natsume scoffed as he opened yet another text message from 'Demon Lady,' that being, his one and only lovely mother. Kaoru had sent Natsume ten texts in a row, all filled to the maximum character count each message allowed. Lists of ingredients upon instructions flooded and Natsume merely sighed as he locked his phone and slid it into his jean pocket; he was unwilling to read the monstrous messages from his mother that were most likely also splattered with thinly veiled threats and passive aggressive comments.

Pushing the wiry cart forward, the automatic doors to Chao's Fresh Produce opened when his foot hit the sturdy mat. A gush of cool air kissed his face and he held back a shiver from the stark difference of temperature from the burning sun and the biting grocery store. To his left stood a life-size cardboard of some weird princess girl in a light kimono, she was holding a sign that said 'Chao's Fresh Produce is a Proud Sponsor Miss Teen Japan.' He snorted at the badly photoshopped poster and clearly airbrushed face of said Miss Teen Japan. Her honey brown hair made for a complexly detailed cutout with each wave tumbling around her shoulders.

His phone vibrated once more, signaling another text he had no doubt came from his mother. Instead of opening it, Natsume idly propelled the cart forward and tried to remember what his mom was planning on cooking without reading her messages. He vaguely remembered thinking Kaoru was feeding a herd of herbivores instead of their old neighbors that moved back into town that she invited over.

Angling the cart to avoid the massive soup can display, Natsume entered the chip aisle and his worn out soccer shoes squeaked against the wooden-patterned linoleum floor. The air was less cool over here, away from the fresh vegetables and industrialized refrigerators and closer to the unhealthy, salt overloading, heart attack inducing, potato chips. His favorite aisle; Natsume was positive some of these chips would be vegetarian and gluten-free and all that stuff that herbivores could eat. Crinkling under his grip, the air-filled bags piled into the creaking cart.

The cart was looking a little full—maybe he should read the text messages now and grab the random vegetables he could pick out from the essays his mom sent. Natsume continued to force the cart forward, it bounced with every thrust, causing the load of potato chip bags to wrinkle and rumple in response.

During his time within Chao's chip aisle, his phone remained silent, but as he exited the aisle, it continued to vibrate incessantly, begging for attention. Natsume huffed as he wriggled his phone out from his pocket, his mom's face reflecting on the dim screen. With one hand on the cracked red bar of the cart and the other on his phone, he answered.

"Hello mother." Where were the vegetables again? The cart had made its round up and down the chip, cookie, and ice cream aisle in a rhythmic manner that left Natsume unwilling to leave this pattern to find the ingredients his mom wanted.

A sickly sweet voice coos from the other end, "Natsu darling," the voice takes a turn and lashed, "what did I tell you about ignoring my messages?" He rolled his eyes and meticulously directed the cart once more down the ice cream aisle.

Sighing, Natsume spoke abrasively, "Not to."

"Right, right," she was cooing again. "Now, did you get the ingredients I told you to?" There was some shuffling in the background and Natsume let that fill the silence.

"Based off your silence, I will assume no. There is only three more hours until the Yukiharas come tonight, so I better see you in thirty minutes with carrots, broccoli, parsley, okra, cabbage, bamboo shoots, and onion in tow."

He snickered as he finally turned into the fresh produce section of Chao's. "Did you forget to buy everything?"

Kaoru hissed a scathing remark before hanging up, prompting Natsume to spring into action. He didn't understand how his father stayed with such a forceful woman like his mother, but he sure wasn't letting her lay a single finger on his love life anymore than she was already threatening.

The Yukiharas his mom invited over for dinner lived in Sapporo for a few years before moving to Tokyo. He could barely remember a single one of them- other than the fact that they were all idiots. A clumsy, noisy bunch they were, bringing ruckus and destruction in their wake.

Natsume went to kindergarten with the youngest Yukihara… and his mother would never let him forget that apparently he and the girl were 'best friends.' He wasn't sure how loosely she was using that term, because he vaguely remembered his mother shoving pictures of the two of them from kindergarten into his face. He was either pulling her honeyed little piggies, or slathering those same pigtails with mud.

And now, with the Yukiharas back in town to let the youngest one finish her last year of high school where her parents grew up, Kaoru was intent on setting Natsume up with her. He couldn't even remember her name; no one in his family was willing to spill because they said when he saw her, 'all the sweet memories would come back.' He scoffed in their face; what memories? Natsume had no interest in little girls and distant memories he no longer held.

The quiet hum of the air conditioning seemed louder by the produce and the sweat he unknowingly had built up behind his neck chilled under the bracing temperature. What did his mom say again?

Inspecting the display of colorful fruits and vegetables in tall brown crates, he wondered what did okra even look like? Natsume stretched out a finger to poke what was labeled as 'avocados,' its smooth, dark green skin deceiving him for the vegetable's skin was not as nearly smooth as it looked. Did she ask for this? Shrugging, he searched for a plastic bag stand and pulled three of them out. The thin plastic opened with ease and the remainder two bags sat in the child's seat of Chao's cart. He reached out for the first avocado he could touch, its shell more brown than green.

"You probably want to pick a different avocado," chirped a familiar voice behind him.

Natsume dropped the avocado back into the wooden barrel, and dryly responded, "I didn't know working at Chao's suddenly made you an avocado expert, Koko." He turned and fist bumped the other teen. "I thought you weren't working tonight?"

Koko's sandy hair shrugged along with his shoulders. "My cousin was supposed to come over tonight, but she's going to dinners at _yours_." He leaned against the avocado crate and smiled slyly up to the dark haired Natsume. "I heard Auntie Yuka and Kaoru are trying to set you and her up. 'Just imagine, Yuka, then our families will actually be connected.'" He made an eerily good imitation of Kaoru, soft commanding tone and all.

"Cut it out," growled Natsume, lightly punching Koko in the shoulder. "I don't even remember her, and no one is still telling me her name."

The sly grin on Koko's face grew wider, "Oh are you in for a treat. She's great, really, one of the boys. Mad soccer skills, her calves could properly rival yours. I'm not sure where all her muscles come from when all she ever does is eat like a rabbit."

"Did you say her calves were as big as mine?" And his mom wanted to set him up with _what_?

Koko's brown eyes drifted as he nodded erractly. "I love having her over, she's the only good backup I can get on League when the rest of the team isn't online. Actually, she's the _only_ good backup I can get on any game regardless if you all are on or not."

Not only was this girl-thing as big as him, she apparently was a gaming nerd too. Natsume could not wait for this dinner to be over. He continued to think deeply, ignoring Koko's blabbering mouth. That teen could certainly run his mouth.

"I'm so excited to have her back in town for longer than the three days she normally comes by. She's really grown since the last time you saw her, dude, apparently she's like Miss Teen Japan or something. I think she gets to compete in this whole international thing, she's excited, and don't get me wrong, the whole family wants to support her, but her older brother has been giving her some flack saying she's too smart for beauty pageants. A bit of a sensitive subject at home. So I helped her get a job here, but then that caused _another_ argument at home too. She's 'too good' and 'too smart' for a 'simple grocery store.' Rude, he acted as if I wasn't there. But yeah, she's smart as hell now, especially with his and Hotaru's demonic tutoring."

Natsume's ears perked up at hearing the familiar name, "Imai?"

Koko rearranged the avocados in a lazy manner and Natsume eyed the manner the other teen was handling the vegetable. "The one and only Imai Hotaru!"

The mysterious youngest Yukihara was thick and muscular, a gaming nerd, and possibly as cold-hearted as Hotaru, Natsume concluded. Why would his mom do this to him? He was happily living a single life and in no way wanted it to end. And if he did— there were a plethora of girls from school that would easily and quickly volunteer themselves to be his girlfriend.

"Dinner is going to be awful," Natsume didn't whine. Or at least, he would never admit to whining; yet this was the closest thing to a whine he could accomplish.

Straightening up, Koko chuckled and pointed at his tacky wristwatch. "I'm off to the cash registers!"

Natsume nodded in response and turned his attention to the avocados before him. Well, he hoped Kaoru asked for avocados, if not, he didn't mind ruining dinner and saying bye to the Yukiharas even sooner.

All three plastic bags were filled with different sizes and shapes of avocado, the thin film of plastic clouding its varying colors. Satisfied with his pick, Natsume rolled the shopping cart over to pay, looking for Koko's register.

Koko was nowhere in sight so Natsume made way for the closest register. The perky voice of the worker washed over his ears and Natsume mentally groaned at the thought of a talkative worker. Watching as she delicately bagged the older customer before him, he was blinded by her warm smile when she looked up at him.

Gross, some happy-to-go-lucky idiot who probably was going to strike a conversation with him.

"Hello! Welcome to Chao's Fresh Produce," she greeted prettily. She was as soft as her voice with her light hair pulled back and tucked in a bun under a Chao's cap. "Did you have any trouble finding what you were looking for?"

Natsume avoided her eyes and didn't respond, hoping she would shut up, as he gingerly placed the bags of avocado on the moving belt.

"Oh!" exclaimed the worker, grabbing Natsume's attention. "I just love avocados; are you making guacamole?"

Frowning at the girl, Natsume could feel his annoyance rising. Her name tag read 'Sakura,' and he decided he would remember her name to complain to Koko.

The girl continued to speak with a wide smile on her face, "I became a vegetarian back in kindergarten after I first tried guacamole. So silly, right? But since then—"

She was pretty, pretty annoying.

"Great thanks, can you hurry this up a bit? I have an awful dinner to go to after this," Natsume dryly cut her off and reached for his wallet.

The worker narrowed her light eyes and leaned forward, "Are you… Nat—?"

"Yeah, yeah, Natsume Hyuuga. Look, I'm not interested okay? Isn't there some fan club rule that you all are not allowed to ask me out anymore?" Scoffing, Natsume digged in his other pocket to pull out his phone. He scrolled to Kaoru's text messages and continued, "My mom is already trying to set me up tonight with some Yukihara idiot. I knew her in kindergarten and her family just moved back, but I heard she's a real nightmare. So go tell all your little friends in the fan club that I'm not interested and soon I'm going to be tied down by some ugly, nerdy girl with monstrous calves and a cold heart."

The worker's smile became forceful and her eyes a little crazed. Previously light eyes turned a shade brown darker and the flecks of gold stood out in contrast. "Great. Thanks. Will do. Trust me, my 'little friends' are going to have a field day." She shoved the bags of chips into a white plastic bag and Natsume was appalled by her treatment to his chips.

"How did you get hired here with such poor customer service?" Natsume frowned at the girl. "'Sakura,' is it? Chao's management will be hearing from me. I can't even escape fan girls when I go grocery shopping."

"That will be $23.62," growled Sakura as she tucked a piece of brown hair behind her ear. "Credit or cash?"

Before Natsume could reply, Koko popped up behind the worker and swung an arm around her neck. "Mikz! I thought your shift was over?" He turned and his eyes were closed in a happy smile, "And how could I help you sir?" Koko opened his light eyes and was startled to see Natsume.

"Natsume," he spluttered, looking back and forth between his friend and the worker, "and Mikan?"

The worker gave him a tight lipped smile as she shoved Koko's arm off. Pushing him slightly in the chest so she could leave the register, she said, "Yes, thank you Koko for offering to finish ringing up this gracious customer of ours. I, sadly, have dinner plans with a jerk I need to get ready for."

Giving Natsume the dirtiest look any girl has ever given him, she stormed off and Natsume swore the ground was shaking.

"Mikan Sakura? How in the world did Chao hire someone like that." Natsume counted the dollar bills in his leather wallet before handing them over to a stunned Koko. "Do you know her, Koko?"

"Do _I_ know _Mikan Sakura_?" Koko blinked rapidly in disbelief, as if he couldn't fathom the idea of _not_ knowing Mikan Sakura.

Natsume rolled his eyes and placed the grocery bags into his quaking cart. "Whatever, see you tomorrow dude. I can't wait to meet this awful cousin of yours. Keep the change."

"Awful?" Koko squeaked behind him, beads of sweat beginning to build up around his forehead.

But Natsume was already rolling the cart away, heading towards the sliding exit doors of Chao's Fresh Produce and Mikan was already in the employee locker room, and Koko? He was stuck ringing up the next customer.

He swore he only sung praises about Mikan like Auntie Yuka had asked him too. Knowing Natsume, Koko tried to bring up Mikan's awesome soccer skills, her love for online games, and her scary intelligence. Mikan's best friend was Natsume's best friend's girlfriend! Wasn't that some sort of sign from fate? Plus, it's not like Mikan was ugly— her face was at the very entrance of Chao's. Koko tried to hint at it to Natsume like the good friend he was. Auntie Yuka and Kaoru wanted their first meeting to be this huge reveal, and he had promised them that he wouldn't mess it up. Scratching his head, Koko wondered where he went wrong.

Oh well, Koko wasn't even going to be at the dinner anyways. He was sad to miss the shenanigans he knew were bound to happen.

Natsume, on the other hand, couldn't wait for dinner to end. When he arrived home, Kaoru rushed him to change into an itchy suit she had prepared and then proceeded to shout at him when she realized that the only vegetable he had bought was avocados. _Three full bags of avocados_.

"What," she began slowly, her dark eyes ablaze, "Do you expect me to make with all these avocados? And these chips! We are having a fancy dinner if you couldn't tell, and you bring us home _potato chips_?" Her tone was menacing and cold; its harshness echoing within his ears.

"Make guacamole?" he suggested.

Kaoru exploded and Natsume wondered for the fifth time just what kept his father around this she-devil of a lady. "Guacamole! I had a seven course dinner planned and you want me to make _guacamole_ instead?"

Natsume shrugged uncaringly as he leaned against his bed, tugging at the collar of the tight suit his mother forced him into. The black jacket laid beside him and a slim tie beside it. He had already unbuttoned the first two buttons of his shirt and rolled up his sleeves to reveal his muscular arms.

"I heard vegetarians loved guacamole."

His mother wagged a pale finger in his face, her voice back to its sinisterly sweet cooing. "If you ruin tonight, you can say goodbye to your soccer summer camp." She turned and left, flipping her dark hair in the process, and slammed the door behind her.

While Kaoru Hyuuga had a flair for dramatics, Natsume was still slightly terrified at the promise in her tone. Dinner was going to be a living hell.

Checking his watch, Natsume calculated he had an hour and a half to spare and decided he would clear his head through playing some video games. Koko was probably still at work and Natsume knew for a fact Ruka was probably at the school's lab waiting to canoodle with his cold-hearted girlfriend. He shivered at just the mere thought of Imai, and shivered once more a the reminder that his future girlfriend (knowing his forceful mother) would be as scary as her.

Time rolled around and suddenly Kaoru was calling Natsume down. A small bundle of black hair peeked through his door and rammed herself into his chest.

"They're here, they're here, they're here!" Aoi vibrated into Natsume's chest, "I can't wait to see Rei-nii and Mi—err, his sister!"

Natsume withheld a biting comment, forgetting that everyone but him seemed to adore the Yukiharas.

"Let's head down before mom rips my head off."

Aoi held onto Natsume's hand and swung it back and forth until she let go at the foyer of the home. She jumped into the arms of an older man, her tulle layers fluttering with her leap.

"Rei-nii!"

A baritone chuckle filled the ear, and Natsume twitched at the sound he remembered from his childhood. Rei was the older Yukihara sibling; mature and icy, he was a lawyer under some huge firm back in Tokyo. He was only visiting and helping his family move in before heading back to his city of bright lights.

"Why Aoi, you have grown so much taller," came a soft and tender voice from the left. Natsume couldn't see who it was, but he was sure that it was the youngest Yukihara. Slowing down, Natsume stayed hidden behind the walls, watching as Aoi led Rei to the left hallway that led into the dining room.

"Guacamole? Auntie Kaoru, you shouldn't have!" The voice was sweet and familiar, but Natsume couldn't figure out from where.

He entered the dining room and in his vision was the slim back of a girl. Her light brown hair set in waves right beneath her shoulders moved like liquid honey at his entrance, and he was met with equally light eyes.

"Mikan Sakura?!" From Chao's Fresh Produce?!

"Aw," cooed Kaoru as she placed a bowl at the dining table. She clasped her hand and leaned on another lady's shoulder, "Look at that Yuka, you were right, he remembered her the second he saw her! Even her middle name!"

Eyes that were once smiling narrowed into slits, "And here I thought you forgot about me, but I guess with my fat calves, you couldn't miss me."

Her calves were anything but big—muscular for sure, but with a definition that spoke lengths of athleticism and good health.

"Yeah, I heard you stomping in from miles away," the retort left his mouth before he could stop it, and based off the murderous look on Kaoru's face, soccer summer camp was canceled indefinitely.

"I was willing to give you the benefit of doubt of growing out of your pride from kindergarten and trust Koko's words that you were a 'good guy,' but I guess we both made a mistake," she hissed. The venom in her voice looked unnatural from her and her yellow sundress.

Her face smoothed into softness as she addressed at the shocked Kaoru.

"Yes, thank you for asking, Miss Teen International begins in a couple of months, so I certainly won't miss your bake sale. I'll even bake a few loaves of my famous walnut banana bread."

This Mikan Sakura from Chao's Fresh Produce was the same Yukihara idiot he grew up with? This Mikan Sakura was the same as the Miss Teen Japan, literally plastered all over the city? This was his supposed 'best friend?'

Natsume was going to murder Koko and then himself next.

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this is my response to the GAchallenge on tumblr! wowza! i actually wrote something but it's like seven days late from the deadline i'm so sorry but here it is! my partner was pismaco on tumblr and you MUST check out the fantastic art they created for this prompt :~)

this was such a slow buildup and entirely way too long winded and properly boring i'm sorry BUT LET THE GA FANDOM RISE!

in case you're wondering what i've been up, i'm still in school and i don't write much until i have holidays. i'm actually going to have summer school for a bit, so i'm not sure how much writing i'll be able to accomplish :( i'm super psyched to write more for forest of fireflies though! i have an outline and some random moments written out, it's just really hard for me to find the time to flesh it out completely.

also if you're here... don't read my old gakuen alice fanfiction lmao. i wrote those in elementary school and kept them up for the memz.

anyways, thank u for reading, as always. love u so.


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